


a blue star mother from vinegar hill

by apricotcake



Series: long is the road that leads me home [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Poetry, Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger, Romani Bucky Barnes, Romani Character, Wartime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:08:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26965687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apricotcake/pseuds/apricotcake
Summary: You can never fool your mother.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Winifred Barnes, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers (implied)
Series: long is the road that leads me home [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1604464
Comments: 10
Kudos: 33





	a blue star mother from vinegar hill

**Author's Note:**

> can technically be read without reading the main fic, but i highly recommend you do :)

_Come home, little one_

there’s a plate keeping warm on the stove for you

piled high with the foods you love, even when it's as scarce as it's been

because it’s only a matter of time before you’re home again.

_Come home, little one_

because the list of people asking me to send their love to you

has grown too long

and would be a waste of paper when we already have so

much to tell you.

_Come home, little one_

because your sister won’t bear it if you don’t,

and the thought of your place at the table being gone

hurts more than the letter that will precede such

a terrible thing.

_Come home, little one_

because I am not the only one praying on your safe return

because you are so loved, even by those who don’t know

you well enough to truly miss you. The butcher,

the neighbors, the girls you used to know,

and the friends from the job you had to leave.

_Come home, little one_

because the fight is being drained out of

the one you love

and I can see now that he loves you, too.

_Come home, little one_

because losing two sons

might be worse than losing one.

_Come home, little one_

because I know he’ll follow you,

the same way you would have followed him

and the same way I would have followed

the man I loved and the man you never knew

had I the means to run,

had I not been carrying you inside of me

_Come home, little one_

because I miss your singing,

clear as a bell and just as pretty

belting with every song that came through the radio

and the way you’d laugh when I told you

you would shine on a stage.

_Come home, little one_

even though the boy waving

from a train car’s window

is long gone. You insist you’re the

same in every letter you send

and you may fool your sister,

but you can never fool your mother.

_Come home, little one_

I still pray for you, even though

you haven’t been to Sunday mass

since you lived under my roof

Yasha, my only boy, my čejaro, do you know

you’re being watched over even now? Do you

believe you'll be swept from the front

and onto my doorstep?

If God isn't enough, I suppose

I can try to answer your prayers myself.

_Come home, little one_

because in a cramped kitchen on Plymouth Street,

there’s a plate keeping warm on the stove for you

and a place at the table I can’t bear to stop setting.

**Author's Note:**

> čejaro = little star
> 
> thank you so much for reading. 
> 
> the sequel to 'there's no pure way to say it' should be on its way shortly, possibly after a prelude.


End file.
